Archaeologia Baltica

This paper discusses recently published data on mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) extracted from Stone Age burials in Lithuania in a broader European context, and data from modern Lithuanians on the basis of recent literature. Several major processes (initial Palaeolithic colonisation, recolonisation after the LGM and Younger Dryas cold relapse, the spread of the Neolithic, and possible small-scale migrations in the Eneolithic age) could have left traces on the modern gene pool. From four Lithuanian samples where data on mtDNA were available, one (Spiginas 4) belonged to haplogroup U4, and three (Donkalnis 1, and Kretuonas 1 and 3) to U5b2. In total, out of 17 individuals from Central and East European non-farming cultures (Mesolithic and Neolithic Ceramic, spanning a period from circa 7800 BC to 2300 BC), a majority of them had mtDNA type ‘U’. An exceptionally high incidence of U5-types (more than 45%) occurs among the modern Saami (Lapps) of northern Scandinavia, perhaps the closest modern European equivalent of Mesolithic hunter-gatherers. Genetic time estimates based on modern mtDNA have suggested that the U5-type arose by mutation about 50,000 to 40,000 years BP. This age implies that around the glacial maximum 20,000 years BP, U5 types were already present and could have repopulated Central and northern Europe as soon as northern areas were deglaciated. Both western (Franco-Cantabrian) and eastern (Pontic) refugia could be sources of this repopulation. In the recent Lithuanian population, U5 and U4 haplogroups are infrequent. The mtDNA homogeneity observed across modern Europe is a more recent phenomenon, less than 7,000 years old, according to these ancient mtDNA results. We can refer to the third millennium BC, internal European migrations from the Eneolithic that significantly modified the genetic landscape, as a time window little explored by archaeogeneticists. The imprecise chronology of mtDNA mutations should in the first instance be based on audited archaeological sources.

Freshwater fish could provide the stable resource base that made possible permanent settlement in lake basins during the Mesolithic and Neolithic in the eastern Baltic region, but the utilisation of this resource required the development of a body of cultural knowledge and techniques for fishing in different seasons, corresponding to the changes in environmental conditions and the behaviour of fish. This paper examines Stone Age fishing techniques from a seasonal aspect, in the light of ethnographic accounts of traditional fishing.

Extensive excavations of Stone Age sites in Western Pomerania have been conducted since 1981. Three of them, the Rotnowo site 18, Tanowo site 3 and Bolków site 1, were selected as Tanged Point Younger Dryas key sites. These open sandy sites revealed well-preserved flint concentrations and a dwelling structure (Tanowo). Their flint inventories, with elements of Ahrensburgian culture, are made up of local flints. Younger Dryas chronology is supported by geology and C14 from Rotnowo: 10820±80 BP [Poz-8309] (cal. 11180–10830 BC). The results of the investigations were compared with settlements from other regions of Poland and with sites from Lithuania and Latvia.

The site of Celmi in the parish of Užava is the first archaeological site in Latvia where a Kunda culture dwelling has been identified. The site is dated to the Middle Mesolithic (6450–6260 cal. BC), and is a site where tools were made from locally available, poor-quality flint. An analysis of the dwelling depression, and the two hearths and stake-holes associated with it, suggests that a temporary shelter was erected here during the Mesolithic. Two flint-knapping areas, as well as other activity areas, can be identified in and near the dwelling-pit. The conclusions presented in this paper are largely hypothetical, and alternative interpretations are possible.

This article gives an overview of the most diverse assemblage of small polished flint tools found in settlements left by Rzucewo culture in the region of Żuławy. The presence of the tools on Rzucewo culture sites defines its range, which covers areas of the greatest abundance in amber situated near the Bay of Gdansk, the Vistula Lagoon and in Żuławy. This, apart from other evidence, proves Rzucewo culture to be different from what is widely understood as Bay Coast culture, with which it is often associated.

During excavations at the cemetery at Zvejnieki in northern Latvia in the 1960s and 1970s, more than 300 graves were excavated. At new excavations from 2005 to 2009, a double grave was found. Burial 316, a female, had an arrangement of amber pendants from the waist to the knee, while Burial 317, a male, had some beads around the head and around the lower legs. The double grave 316–317 proved to be the most richly furnished grave in the cemetery in terms of amber pendants. It has been dated to about 4000 calibrated BC. The double grave is located in the eastern part of the cemetery, where other graves of the same age with amber objects were situated.

Archaeological excavations in the Late Neolithic settlement of Iča were carried out in 1998 and 1989. Pre-war research of the Iča settlement was done by Eduard Šturms (1895–1959). The aim of this paper is to draw attention to the character of the Late Neolithic population. In total, an area of 463.5 square metres was investigated. Three cultural layers were discovered: Eneolithic, and Late Neolithic. Topography, stratigraphy and dwelling traces are described. Attention is paid to the demoted human burials, of which bones were found all over the excavated area. Flint, stone, antler and amber artefacts, 516 items altogether, were found in an area of 506 square metres. A small clay item, representing the breast of a female figurine, and a bone plate with an engraved anthropomorphic face, are of special interest. Amber ornaments, altogether 122 pendants, buttons, cylindrical beads, fragments of rings and discs, were found. The pottery was classified in three groups: Late Neolithic porous and corded Ware, as well as Eneolithic-Lubāna type. Radiocarbon data from five wooden samples allowed us to date the habitation of the settlement at Iča from 3320 to 2570 bc.